Meet Lara

Professional actress and educator Lara Mielcarek (MFA, Penn State) started Artists’ Rehabilitation Coalition in 2016 after becoming inspired by an established prison theatre program: Oberlin Drama at Grafton (ODAG). After assisting that group for just over a year (with the courageous Phyllis Gorfain at the helm, professor emeritus of Oberlin College), the men of the Grafton program brought their Othello production to Northeast Reintegration Center (NERC), the women’s prison in Cleveland. Upon learning at the post-show Q&A that the women had no such programming, Lara set about to create something new for them. And so, A.R.C. was born. Through the years, Lara has had two amazing partners as volunteer helpers, Olivia Scicolone (MFA, NYU) and Sarah Pine (MA, MeD, John Carroll) . Although both of those beloved friends have since had to move on, many of Cleveland’s amazing artists have come in to assist the inmate-actors of A.R.C. By Spring of 2024, the women had already received incredible instruction from Chris Bohan, Derrick Winger and Geoff Knox. The opportunity to work with real artists from the Cleveland theatre community is what puts the “C” for Coalition in the acronym A.R.C. As a union actress, Lara has been recognized for her on-stage work through Cleveland Critics Circle and Broadway World. She has been onstage in NE Ohio at Dobama, Beck Center for the Arts, Ensemble, French Creek, Coach House, and the Ohio Shakespeare Festival (where she has been a company member since 2006). The depth of Lara’s onstage experience resides in her time with OSF, where she has played over a dozen of the Bard’s leading ladies. Her favorites include: Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, and Kate. A growing directing resume includes her first professional show, Romeo and Juliet for the Ohio Shakespeare Festival (Jan/’25). Other directing experience include shows for Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, and Blank Canvas Theatre.

Lara currently teaches Public Speaking, Theatre Appreciation, and Documentary Film Study classes, at Cleveland’s St. Ignatius High School, as well as assisting with the school’s Speech and Debate program. She lives in Lakewood with her husband Michael Christescu, and their fur family.